Subletting with a Demon
by SirenAlpha
Summary: Audrey didn't mean to trap a Russian half demon in her apartment. She just wanted to live up to her wannabe rebel teenage self's dreams and summon a demon, not have Ivan living on her small pullout couch. Still better than losing her soul, though. Urban fantasy!AU Fem!EnglandxHalf demon!Russia
1. Chapter 1

So this is an urban fantasy AU, but the fantasy part is going to be explained as the story continues. Fem!England is going by Audrey Kirkland, and Russia is going by Ivan Braginsky in the story.

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><p>Audrey stood in the center of her new apartment. The last time she had seen it there had been paint on the walls and furniture and a strong scent of incense. The previous tenet had stripped it of most of that when they had left, leaving behind white walls, an off smell, and scuffed wooden floors. They'd even removed their charms from the walls. She ran her hand over the cool wall, planning out which spells she'd paint onto them.<p>

She turned from the wall to grab her belongings from the entry way and start setting up as much as she could before her furniture would be moved in. She left what little food she'd brought in the kitchen, brought her suitcase into her new bedroom, and put her toiletries in the bathroom. Again, she whispered a blessing for being able to find an apartment with internet included before retreating to her bedroom and pulling out her laptop. She sent a message to her mother that all was well before finding a movie to settle herself with.

Before going to bed, she recalled that the landlord had told her that the one thing left behind had been a brownie. She pulled out the honey she'd made sure to bring with her and set out a little bit of it for him on the kitchen counter. "I'm just going to need a little help with cooking," she announced to the apartment, hoping the brownie would hear it.

In the morning, she left her bedroom to find golden brown toast on the kitchen counter.

* * *

><p>Audrey worked in a local and natural pharmacy, using her magic and study of plants to create the medicines. It had required less study than to become a doctor and allowed her more time with plants and less with people. She started creating a list of plants she worked with and wanted for her apartment.<p>

After a few days with furniture, she went out to search for the most natural paints she could find. She pushed her furniture away from the walls and put on old clothes. She rolled up her sleeves and began to paint charms onto the walls in her loopy cursive writing. She didn't have the same sense of colors as she did plants, but she did her best to pick colors that would fit the rooms and the purposes of the charms.

She used green and gold in the main room with spells to keep her and her plants, once she got them, healthy as well as to help enhance her powers as she had set up her desk in the main room. The kitchen opened onto the main room, and she continued to use the gold, but the charms she used worked to keep the kitchen safe. She set aside a space for an area to enchant to use as a white board as she didn't remember the spell and would have to search for it.

For her bedroom, she used red, leaning more towards the color she wanted rather than one that would match her charms. She made sure to use charms that would keep the area safe and quiet. She put in a few to ward off nightmares and some to help with motivation and rejuvenation. A few other types of spells flew through her thoughts, but she decided not to add them.

She left the bathroom alone, not certain what she should put into it.

In the dying sunlight that evening, she pulled out her phone to snap a pic of the drying walls. She posted it to her Instagram, and the following day she went out and bought five potted plants to start her collection.

* * *

><p>"Hey, how are you doing?"<p>

"I'm okay, mom," Audrey said into her phone as she prepared tea.

"How's work going?"

"Okay, it's more tiring than I thought it would be. It seems to take more effort to do it for work than it did to do it for studying."

"Yeah, I remember feeling that way when I first started working. Make sure you do your best to eat well. I've found that's what helps best."

"Yeah, the brownie definitely helps out with that."

"I know, you're so lucky that your first apartment came with one. Treat it well."

"I will, mom," she said, rolling her eyes as the water finished boiling.

"Have you gone out and done anything fun yet?"

"Mom," she groaned, rolling her eyes. "No, I feel like I just got finished moving in and I don't know where anything is. I've hardly met anybody either."

"You'd think in such a big city you'd be able to find someone to hang out with."

"Well, I haven't," she snapped, beginning to steep her tea.

"Just give it a little time. Moving is a big change, and you've got lots of things to get used to. Relax."

"I'm trying," Audrey said, taking a deep breath.

"Oh, before I forget, you left some of your books here, and I thought you might want them. So I've sent them off to you."

"Alright, thanks mom."

"Don't be afraid to call me or you father. We love you."

"Yes, goodbye mom."

"Bye, sweetheart."

Audrey sighed when her mother hung up. "I forgot to ask her about the colors for the charms."

She shrugged and set her phone on the counter. She finished making her tea and sat down on her couch to drink as she searched the web for something to watch.

The package arrived several days later. Audrey opened the box, expecting to find some of her favorite novels, and pulled out spell books she'd changed the covers of years ago. Her heart pounded as she held the heavy book. It still held traces of the darker energy she'd carried during her more rebellious phase as a teenager, and it made her fingers ache after all the healing energy she'd cultivated in her apartment and at her work.

She dropped the book, breathing heavily. She dug through the box to find the one she'd read most often during that time. It contained spell after spell for summoning, but she'd never dared to try and use one while living in her parents' house. She held it gingerly in her hands and brought it over to the couch to sit and read it. She smiled as she flipped through the pages and read those familiar entries all over again.

She hadn't made it halfway through the book before her fingers began tingling, and she couldn't turn another page. She ran her fingers over the page just to increase the feeling, reading over the Latin as she revealed the page. It described how to summon minor demons. She sighed, leaning back and crossing her arms. Then she closed the book and set it on her coffee table.

The next day at work, she kept getting distracted by the thought of actually using the book. She had an opportunity now that she didn't live in her parent's house, and she had little else to do. She could summon a little demon then send it back, just to try it.

She started collecting the items she needed to perform the summoning.

* * *

><p>She gathered the materials quickly, but had to wait until Friday so it wouldn't impact her work. After she finished eating, she pushed her furniture and plants aside to clear a space in the center of her living room. She laid out a tarp and painted the necessary diagram for the demon to come through in smooth strokes of white paint.<p>

She set aside the left over paint and pulled the book towards her. She placed the necessary dried herbs at the exact places it described then took her spot at the edge of the circle she had painted. She chanted the spell. She looked around when she finished as nothing had changed. She had never had her magic be unresponsive like that before. She sighed and looked back to the tarp to notice that the painted lines had begun to glow a light purple at the center.

The light had little strength and oozed slowly down the lines. She frowned and considered poking it when the lit lines began to lift up and a man's head poked through.

She jumped to her feet. "Oh my goddess."

He began shouting loudly in a language she couldn't understand. She stepped over the tarp to kneel beside his head. "Be quiet," she hissed at him, trying to reach out and still him.

He glared at her. "You summoned me."

"No, I meant to summon a demon."

"Well you got about halfway."

She noticed the ice white horns he had protruding from his white blond hair. "Oh."

"Get me out so I can go back home," he growled.

"How am I supposed to do that? Only your head came through."

"I know," he said rolling his eyes. "I can in fact tell my body is somewhere else. It is not a nice feeling, but you summoned me. It's only one way."

"Alright, just don't bite me or anything," she said, getting to her feet.

"I should because you interrupted what I was doing."

"I could just leave you with only your head poking through. I could put the couch on top of you," she said, touching his horns.

"I'd curse you."

"Can you though? You're only half demon," she said, grabbing onto his horns and finding them cool and dry.

"I could skewer it with my horns then."

"You're not much of a demon are you?"

"You're not much of a witch if you could only get my head through."

"Hey, it was my first try."

"I say you should quit while you're ahead and get a different hobby."

"Oh, trust me, this is not happening again," she said as she began to tug him out by his horns. "This was a mistake."

"Yeah, you just happened to correctly paint the sigils necessary to summon a half demon."

"Maybe," she said, pausing in her tugging to shrug. "It was just supposed to be a minor demon."

"Half demons count for that."

"Is that some sort of technicality? At least now I've learned something," she said, getting him as far out as the tops of his shoulders. "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

"I was at home," he said, shaking his head and pulling his horns from her grasps.

"Sorry, just stop moving so I can get you out."

"Fine," he huffed.

She took hold of his horns again and tugged. When she started to get him up to his elbows, she said, "I don't think I can pull you up much farther."

He moved his head in a way that made her imagine him rolling his eyes. "I've got it from here."

He pulled his first arm out, moving like he was stuck in quicksand. He got his hand out onto the tarp and began to lever himself out. The lines on the tarp glowed brighter as he forced them to spread wider. Once he got both hands out and onto solid ground, he clambered over the edge like he'd reached the top of a cliff.

"Nice job," Audrey said, tearing her eyes away from his back muscles.

"Thanks, now help me get back home," he said, turning towards her and crossing his arms.

"I supposed that's fair seeing as I summoned you," she said, combing her fingers through her hair. "I need shoes and my phone."

"At least there's no snow," he said, examining one of his feet and showing that he really only had on sweat pants.

"It's not even October, why would there be snow?" she asked, pulling on her shoes and stuffing her phone into her pocket. "Let's go."

"What, not even a shirt for me?" he asked. "What will the neighbors think?"

"That I got a freaky lay? I don't know. Nothing I have will fit you," she said, pulling open the door. "Come on."

"Alright," he said, walking towards the door. He crossed the threshold and collided with the sudden appearance of a transparent purple barrier. He reeled back a couple steps, holding his nose. "What spell did you use?"

"For what?"

"To summon me."

"I don't know, a normal one?" she asked, peering into the doorway as the barrier faded. The color had matched the color of the light he had come through.

"Just show me the book."

"Fine," she said, striding across the room to pick up the book she'd used to summon him.

He glared at her when he accepted it then read. "Did you read the footnotes?"

"No, they were in Greek. I thought they wouldn't be important."

"Always read the footnotes. It's a contracted summons," he said, and frowned at her. "You know Latin, but you're too good for Greek?"

"No, I just only took Latin, and what do you mean contract?" she said and crossed her arms. "I'm not giving up my soul if that's what it said."

He dropped his arms, turning half away from her and sighing. "I can't even do that. I'm half demon. It's supposed to be a punishment for whoever summons a demon. For six new moons, I can't leave."

"So what, now I have to house you for six months?" she asked.

He looked ready to breathe fire on her. "I don't like this either, but it's not my fault. It's _yours_. This might be okay for actual minor demons who have this kind of spare time, but I don't. I can't leave my life for six months."

"I'm sorry, it's not like I singled you out to summon just to torture you," she said, throwing her arms out. "Hell, if I could read Greek I wouldn't have done it all."

"You shouldn't have anyways. You're not even any good at it," he said, gesturing to the tarp.

"Well shouting about it isn't going to change any of it now," she said, throwing up her arms. "We'll just have to figure it out, get your stuff sent here or something."

He looked around the room. "The only thing big enough in this apartment is the ceiling height."

"Hey, it's perfectly sized. You're the one who's too big."

"If you didn't want to share, you shouldn't have summoned a demon."

"I didn't know minor demons came this big or could be contracted for six months. Bet you're not as useful as the brownie."

"You have a brownie?" he asked, looking disgusted.

"Yes, and he's a nicer house guest than you are."

"I'm not a guest."

"Pest then."

"Prisoner more like it."

"Believe me, if I could send you back to where you came from I would," she said, putting her hands on her hips.

"You don't even know where that is, and it's not hell."

She rolled her eyes. "I never said it was and it's not like you know where we are now. There, we're even."

"That's actually a good point," he said, crossing his arms. "Where are we?"

"London."

He looked at her flatly. "Great, I'm from Moscow."

"I probably could have gotten that from the accent."

"Really? You were prepared to drive me home," he said, crossing his arms.

She shrugged, tilting her head. "I mean, it is possible."

He rolled his eyes. "Anyways, what do you intend to do now that you've got a half demon trapped in your apartment."

She crossed her arms and squared her jaw. "I don't know. I guess you could take the pullout couch."

"That tiny thing is a pullout?" he asked, pointing to her couch.

"I didn't get it with giant half demons in mind. It works perfectly well for humans."

"Doesn't look like it."

"Does it look like anything bigger would fit in the room? You're welcome to sleep on it as is if you think that would be more comfortable."

"I'll pull it out," he grumbled, glowering at her.

"Good, I can get you sheets," she hissed as she passed him on the way to the closet. She struggled to reach the high shelf she'd put them on, but she got them down alright. She returned to living room. "Here."

He looked down at her, towering over her with horns and too thick eyebrows and a sharp chin, then slumped his shoulders. He ran his hand through his hair, but got caught on his horn. "Thanks."

She frowned. "Your welcome. I'll just grab the stuff, and I'll leave you be. Just don't break anything."

She rushed to pick up all the herbs she'd set out for the summons and folded up the tarp. She returned the paint to the bathroom and set the tarp and herbs in the bottom of the closet. She came back to the living as he pulled out the couch. "There's snacks in the kitchen. Just don't piss off the brownie."

He twisted his lips. "I'll try not too."

"At the very least, don't eat his honey."

"I won't," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Good," she said, turning for her bedroom.

"Wait."

She turned back. "Yes?"

"What's your name?" he asked, tilting his head.

She blinked, realizing they hadn't actually exchanged names yet. "Audrey Kirkland. You?"

"Ivan Braginsky."

She nodded, scratching her jaw. "Good, nice to meet you. Goodnight."

He looked at her and responded in Russian. She just turned away, running a hand through her hair and more than ready to sleep. She could worry about the problem of having transported a Russian and then illegally housing him in her apartment tomorrow.

* * *

><p>This is pretty much going to be my for fun fic. I'm not sure quite how long it will be, but I do have like the last third of the story planned out, and what's going to happen next chapter decided. I also have no idea how frequently this will be updated. We'll just have to see.<p>

I hope you enjoyed. Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

I meant to get this up sooner, but oh well. More fun times with them trying to set the other off.

Also, Catarina is Portugal and Maddie is Canada.

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><p>Audrey felt a rush of adrenaline upon retreating to her room, enough to keep her up half the night googling information on half demons. She had prepared barrier spells to protect herself against minor demons, but she had to check they worked with half demons as well. Once she confirmed that almost all of them did, she grabbed a pencil and began adding protection charms to the wall of her bedroom that was shared with the living room, hoping she'd remember to paint them later. She fell into an exhausted sleep after that.<p>

"Alright, I've worked it out," Audrey announced in the morning as she left her bedroom, carrying her laptop.

"What?" Ivan asked, still laying on the pullout couch.

"Because I didn't do it with malicious intentions upon someone else, summoning you wasn't illegal, but, as you're a citizen of another country, you need to register so the government knows you're here. If you want to work or anything though you have to go through the normal process. It doesn't say anything about working long distance for whoever you work for in Russia, but I'm going to assume that's okay," she explained, setting the laptop down on the kitchen counter. "Do you want any tea?"

"What?" he asked again, sitting up.

"Tea, do you want any?"

"No tea, but what was all the other stuff?" he asked, getting up.

"Did you shrink over night?" she asked, squinting at him as he walked over to look at the computer.

"I just turned back human," he answered with a shrug.

"You just turned back human? So what, you can just switch back and forth?" she asked as she turned on the kettle. She made sure to keep a careful eye on her laptop as he used it.

"It's not that simple," he said, frowning as he read the instructions on the computer screen.

"You have to register. I guess this isn't a completely unusual situation. There are stories of people getting contracted for eight years so I say you got lucky," she said, starting in on the toast the brownie had made for her.

"Oh yeah, very lucky," he murmured as he scrolled down the page.

She rolled her eyes and continued eating her breakfast. He sighed and began typing out responses. "What no food for me?"

"The brownie made it. You could have asked him, but you don't like him."

"Can you not make anything?"

"Trust me, you don't want me to."

He gave her a look before turning back to the computer screen. "There, finished."

"Great," she said, finishing off her toast. "Now we can see about getting you clothes cause you really don't need to be running around shirtless."

He looked down at his chest then raised his eyebrows at her. She fought a blush. He shrugged. "I don't think there's anything wrong with it seeing as I can't go outside, but if you must, I say get it cheap and get it large."

"Okay, how large?"

He shrugged. "Extra-large, I mostly get sweatpants and loose t-shirts so they're less likely to rip when I transform."

"What are you, the hulk?"

"Yes, get everything in purple," he said, rolling his eyes. "You did notice that I wasn't green yesterday, right?"

"Too bad really, you could have matched the plants," she said, closing her laptop.

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" he said, moving away from her and back towards the living room.

"Half plant or half demon?" she said, tilting her head back and forth. "I'll go with half plant."

"You're allowed to mark up your apartment walls?" he asked, running his hand over one of the charms she had put up.

"They're charms. Do you not do it in Russia?" she asked, leaning back against the counter and crossing her arms.

"I don't. I don't know if any witches do," he said with a shrug. "What language are they in?"

"English, it's just cursive," she answered. "You don't put up any kind of magical protection?"

He gave her a look then rolled his eyes. "I don't do magic. I am magic. And I'd like to see you try and read Russian cursive."

"You are magic? How is that any different from being a wizard?"

"No, humans can have magic and they do magic with spells and things. Have you ever heard of demons doing spell work?" he asked, giving her a flat look.

"Well, no," she answered, frowning.

"Exactly."

"Whatever, I'm going to go out and at least get you a shirt. Brownie, make sure he doesn't break anything," she announced as she carried her laptop back toward her room.

"What's a brownie going to do to me?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Oh, they can be quite annoying when they want to be. Seriously, what's wrong with the brownie? I thought they weren't common in Russia."

"They aren't, and I like it that way."

"Too bad," she said, retreating to her bedroom and making sure to lock her door behind her. She felt a little gross even after changing into new clothes, but she did not feel up to showering with a male half demon in her apartment. She hid away her laptop in her room and locked the door when she left. She whispered a spell to the doorknob so it would burn the hand of whoever touched it that wasn't her.

"Is there any particular color of clothes you want?" Audrey asked.

"Red," Ivan answered.

"Just red?"

"I don't really care seeing as I'm not going outside."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you can go out on the balcony if you really need the air."

"Oh yeah that just adds loads of space."

She sighed and left without even telling him goodbye. She went to the nearest clothing store she knew of and stood in the center of the men's section, feeling lost. She took a picture of the t-shirts nearest her and posted it to Instagram. She captioned it 'what shirts do you get a guy?'

She tucked her phone away and began to search through the shirts for anything red and not horrible looking. She pulled out a plain v-neck in a rather bright red then moved onto the next set of shirts.

She checked her phone and found that her friend, Catarina, had responded to the photo. 'Do you have a boyfriend I don't know about?'

'he is indeed male' she responded.

She found another shirt, this time burgundy, before deciding to look for another pair of sweatpants. She felt her phone buzz from a text. She pulled out her phone and read Catarina's text. **Uh do I want to know what you got into?**

**Probably not**.

She tucked her phone away again as she focused on locating the largest and cheapest sweatpants in the store. They didn't come in red so she picked black instead. She doubled checked the prices of her three items, and the total came in higher than she wanted to pay. Really, she deserved it for summoning a demon. Her teenage self was an idiot for wanting this.

She sighed and forced herself to head to checkout. She bought the clothes, exited the store, and paused on the sidewalk when she felt dread at the thought of returning to her apartment. She didn't exactly have anywhere else to go. She hadn't been exaggerating to her mother about barely having gone out at all. She gritted her teeth and headed back to her apartment.

She didn't notice anything wrong until she got back in the door. "Is something burning?" she asked, dropping the bag of clothes by the closet as she rushed into the living room.

Ivan didn't answer, but she found him sitting on the edge of the pullout holding one of the summoning books over the trashcan and burning the pages with her lighter. "What are you doing?" she screeched, reaching out for the book.

"Getting rid of them. What does it look like?" he asked, pulling the book out of her reach.

"By burning it?" she asked, looking towards her smoke detector. "Please tell me you didn't tamper with the smoke detector."

"I didn't, there hasn't been that much smoke," he said, bringing the book back over the trashcan.

He flicked the lighter on and moved it towards another page of the book. She attempted to snatch the book from him, but couldn't wrench it out of his grip.

"Do you really want another demon trapped in here?" he asked.

"I wasn't going to do it again. There's no need to burn them," she said, tugging on the book.

He rolled his eyes. He released the lighter then took hold of her wrist and pulled her hand off the book. "You didn't have a shredder. Besides, I already burned the one you used."

"Just because you don't like them doesn't mean you should destroy my things," she snapped.

"You used one of them to trap me in your apartment," he returned. "I have no guarantees about the next person who gets them. They're dangerous. You'd know that if you could read more than the Latin out of them."

"I know they're dangerous, why the fuck do you think I had them in the first place?"

"Really? I think you did it on a dare. How else does a healer end up dealing with dark magic? How much did they bet that you couldn't even make a demon appear?"

She nearly laughed. "Not likely, I got them in high school. I would have been the one to dare people to try and summon a demon."

"Oh my mistake, you're not a just a wimpy healer," he said, rolling his eyes. "You're still an idiot for doing it."

"Oh, fuck you, and stop burning my things."

"Fine," he said, tossing the lighter to her. She caught it, and while her hands were full, he ripped the pages from the binding. He then proceeded to rip all the pages to shreds and drop them on top of the ashes already in the trash.

She ran a hand over her forehead. "If you were going to destroy them no matter what, couldn't you have done that in the first place so you wouldn't have chanced burning down my fucking apartment? May I remind you, you can't fucking leave."

"Burning it was more cathartic."

She threw the lighter at his head, but she missed. She stormed away to her bedroom before he could comment on it, growling in frustration. She made sure to lock it again and paced the small space to try and work off her fury.

She picked up a box of cigarettes, but groaned as she remembered where her lighter was. She had to leave her room again to search for it in the living room. She ignored Ivan as she searched the living room for where it had landed, nearly tripping on the pullout as she searched. She found it by the pot of one of her plants and snatched it up. She went out onto her balcony to smoke a cigarette, resting her arms on the railing and keeping her back to the door.

When she finished the cigarette, she flicked the butt away, not really caring where it landed. She went back inside to find something to eat in the kitchen.

"What sort of a healer smokes?" Ivan asked.

"The kind that had an exciting adolescence, and I'm not a doctor," she said, already giving up on ignoring him. "I will say, burn anything else of mine and I'll make sure to burn you. Got it?"

"Fine, I don't need to burn anything else."

She glared at him, noticing that he had to have found the clothes she'd bought him because he was wearing a shirt. The shirt did nothing to hide his broad shoulders even if it did hide his abs. She looked away and focused on getting herself a snack.

"Do you know your colors are wrong?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked, squinting at him.

"Your walls, the colors don't match the charms."

"I didn't study color theory," she said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. "What would you know about it? You don't even know anything about spell casting."

"I can sense it."

She raised an eyebrow. "But you couldn't tell there was a barrier around the apartment until you ran into it."

He clenched his jaw. "It is contract magic."

"Contract magic is what? Harder for you to sense?"

"Did you ignore that too when you decided not to learn Greek and color theory?"

"Hey, Latin is used ten times more often than Greek. And they don't offer classes on contract magic."

He rolled his eyes. "That's probably cause it is used specifically between humans and magical beings. Don't care about anything unless it has only to do with you. You know, you use it with the brownie, too."

"So you're pissed off because the brownie got the contract first?"

"What? No, they're annoying. Have you ever actually seen a brownie?"

"No, don't have to," she said then frowned. "Wait, was that footnote the contract?"

"Yeah."

"So you burned the only thing that had the terms of the contract written down? You're the idiot then. You don't get rid of the only thing telling you what the agreement is," she said, moving to peer into the ashes in her trashcan.

"Whoops," he said with a shrug.

"What do you mean whoops? How are you not worried about this?" she snapped, holding her arms out.

"Doesn't run on my magic, and, again, you should have read it before summoning me."

"Doesn't run on your magic? If it's not yours it has to be mine."

"Yeah, generally how it works."

"Then what does it do to me if it traps you here? Did you even read that part?"

"No."

"How could you not?" she asked, clasping her hands to her head. "Now we don't know what will happen."

"I don't care," he said, sitting back down on the couch.

"You should because if it goes wrong, I am taking you with me," she said, pointing at him.

"I'd like to see you try, healer."

"Don't test me," she growled, pulling out another cigarette and moving back out onto the balcony. She grumbled to herself as she checked her phone and found another text from Catarina.

**Should i be worried?**

She sighed. **Probably**.

* * *

><p>After another day of snarking back and forth and pushing each other's buttons and altogether existing uncomfortably together, Monday, for once, came as a relief. Audrey had to check that Ivan was asleep before she showered and add locking away just about everything of any value to her morning routine, but she got to leave the apartment and be away from him for several hours.<p>

However, once she got to work, the anxiety began to press on her. Could people tell that she'd summoned a demon? Was there something about her that might show she had an unwanted house guest in her apartment? She second glanced every person to see if they were even looking at her weird. As far as she could tell, no one had noticed anything.

She made it through the day, dragging her feet from exhaustion after being so anxious and being so reluctant to go home.

"Are you alright?"

Audrey jumped at the voice. She turned back to her coworker. "Yeah, I'm fine, why do you ask Maddie?"

Maddie shrugged. "You just looked a little stressed."

"Oh, it's nothing really. Just had a bit of an accident over the weekend, nothing serious," she said, counting as it not being much of a lie.

"An accident? Did you get hurt?" she asked, giving her a concerned once over.

"No, no, I think I just need to find a new hobby. Don't know enough about the area to pick out something new, though," she said with a shrug; anything to keep her out of her apartment for just a little while longer.

"I know you like plants, but do you like animals?"

"Well enough I suppose, why?"

"My brother works at an animal shelter that's specifically for magical animals whether they are inherently magic or were cursed or whatever. They could always use help, and I've been recruited to do word of mouth advertising for them."

"I have some experience with magical beings," Audrey admitted with a frown. "My apartment has a brownie."

"I have no idea if that would help, but I can give you my brother's number if you're interested. He can tell you a lot more than I can."

"Sure, I can always ask," she said, pulling out her phone to start a new contact. Maddie filled it in for her.

"Having a good night," Maddie said, giving her a smile before leaving.

"You too," Audrey responded, heading towards home.

She kicked off her shoes when she entered her apartment. She came into the living room to find Ivan had wet hair and had gone back to just wearing sweatpants.

"Good, you're back," he said.

"What do you want?" she asked, shooting him a look.

"You should get me my own soap because I do not want to smell like roses for the next six months."

"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Are you not actually blond? Your shampoo and conditioner is for dyed hair."

She looked at him flatly. "My hair used to be green. I didn't switch back shampoos."

He made a face then shook his head. "Anyways, I forgot to tell you to get me more underwear. That's going to be a problem soon."

"Oh my goddess," she said, putting a hand to her forehead. "I'm not dealing with this right now."

"What? Have you really never bought a man clothes before?" he asked, edging towards smirking.

"Oh, and you're an expert on buying women clothes?"

He shrugged, but he also didn't look at her. She rolled her eyes. "It's not going to happen today anyways."

"So I guess this proves that there really isn't a boyfriend I have to worry about misinterpreting things," he said, leaning back.

"No, but you could have asked about it like a normal person."

He shrugged. "I'm not a normal person, and it's really too bad. It could have made things more interesting."

She groaned, turning from him to grab food and retreat to her bedroom where he couldn't follow her.

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><p>I think Ivan's winning so far when it comes to getting on each other's nerves.<p>

Hopefully, I can get another chapter up soon. Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

This ended up so much longer than I originally intended it to be. That's okay. I hope you enjoy.

* * *

><p>Audrey woke in the middle of the night, feeling cold and unsettled. She glanced around her room, but noticed nothing unusual. She rolled over, pulled the covers around herself, and in minutes fell asleep again. She woke feeling tired, but got out of bed all the same. She rubbed her eyes then got ready for her day.<p>

Ivan had woken up by the time she had gotten out of the shower and dressed. He leaned against the counter eating toast.

"Is that my toast?" she asked, pointing at the plate.

He shrugged. "It was on the counter, and you weren't eating it."

"Give it here," she said, holding out her hand for it.

He looked down at her hand then back at her. He picked up the remaining piece of toast, crammed it into his mouth, and gave her the empty plate.

"What the hell?" she said, dumping the plate into the sink so she wouldn't try throwing it at his head. "That was for me. The brownie made it."

"So?" he asked, opening up a cabinet to grab a glass.

"So I feed him, and he feeds me. You can't just take the food," she snapped. "You don't even like the brownie."

"Yeah, but I was hungry," he said, filling the glass with water.

"That doesn't mean you just take it. I need it. I wasn't kidding about not being able to cook," she said.

He shrugged and started to drink. She looked him over, waiting for a response, then walked up to him and elbowed him in the stomach. He sputtered and spilled water onto his shirt.

"Don't take my things," she warned him as she turned to her bedroom to finish getting ready. She came out again to see him in a different shirt and glaring at her. She sneered back at him and grabbed a snack and her cigarettes and left for work.

"Do you?" Maddie asked before leaning in and taking a deeper breath. "Why do you smell like smoke?"

Audrey sighed. "I have a very trying…roommate."

"Oh, the brownie can't help with that?"

"I wish. They don't like brownies," she said with a sigh.

"Well, give it some time and if nothing else, when your lease is up you can always move to somewhere else," she said with a smile.

"That's true, but I've got a year until then," she said, shrugging. "At least this job pays well enough for a decent place."

"I hope things work out with your roommate," Maddie said before turning towards her work station out front.

"I wish," she whispered to herself, rolling her head to relieve some tension before focusing on her work. The tension returned and settled in her neck and shoulders during her walk back home. She opened the door to her apartment and didn't hear, see, or smell anything horrible or wrong. She entered her apartment and shut the door behind her.

She found Ivan on the pullout reading a book. "Well, at least you're not burning that one," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm only halfway through it. There's still time and opportunity," he said, not even looking up.

"May I remind you, I've got the lighter on me now."

"I thought smoking was bad for humans. Should I be taking it off you?"

"It's better for me than you burning down my apartment."

He looked away from his book to give her a flat look. "By the way, you might want to go grocery shopping."

"What? Why? There was plenty this morning," she said, turning towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, but I spent the day here."

She opened the fridge. All the deli meats and fruits and a fair amount of the vegetables, all of which didn't require actual cooking to eat, had disappeared. She checked the freezer and the panty to find most of the bread gone and only a couple microwavable meals left.

"You've only been here like three days," she said, glaring at him.

"You're not familiar with half demon metabolism are you?"

"No, I haven't ever housed one before."

"Housed is not quite the word I would use. You're still going to need to get more food though."

She shook her head. "This isn't going to work."

"It's not going to work any better with me trying to leave and get the food," he said with a shrug.

"No, I mean, I can't afford for you to eat this much. I got this place because I could afford how much it cost for me to live here," she said, frowning and taking inventory of the food again.

"It's not like I'm broke. As much as I would like you to suffer for summoning me, I can pay for myself."

Audrey stopped counting her food and looked at him. He had set the book aside and had his hands on either side of him, ready to push off and stand. He returned her look, tilting his head in challenge. She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Alright, but it's not like you can come with me to the grocery store and split the bill. I guess we can figure that out later too, but right now, I'll just…go get the food."

"Okay," he said, frowning, leaning back, and watching as she picked up her keys and wallet and left.

At the store, she picked out the same things she usually did, but she had to remind herself to get more than usual. She double checked any sales before making her choices. She waited uncomfortably in line for the register, dreading reading what it would all cost. She sighed when she finally saw the number, and the clerk gave her a weird look. She paid for it and hauled it all back to her apartment.

She did great handling all the bags until she got to the door and had to unlock it. Half the bags slipped from grasp and landed on the ground and against the door. She groaned, dropping her head back and staring up at the ceiling like it could fix the problem.

She heard the door unlock and open, and Ivan stood in the doorway, watching as the food spilled over the threshold.

"Need help?" he asked, looking up from the groceries to her.

"Yeah, that'd be great," she said, shifting on her feet and feeling her cheeks heat.

He knelt down and gathered the food in the apartment, even managing to get the handle of one of the bags. She picked up everything that still was out in the hall. He held a hand out. She looked at it for a moment then wrinkled her nose and handed it over to him. He stood up again and got out of the middle of the walkway, keeping the door from closing with his foot.

"Thanks," she said, moving past him as close to the opposite wall as she could.

"You're welcome," he said, letting the door close and following her to the kitchen.

"Just leave it on the counter," she said, setting down her bags.

"Okay," he said, placing the bags he had on the counter. He retreated back to the couch, and she started putting the food away, beginning with items that had to go into the freezer. Once she had finished with that, she looked over to him.

"What?" he asked, not even bothering to act like he hadn't been watching her.

She frowned. "You're just gonna watch me?"

He shrugged. "You just told me to put the bags on the counter. As for the watching, I think you're forgetting I'm stuck here all day and you don't even have a TV."

"I didn't want to pay for one," she said, giving him a look.

"Fine, but it doesn't help me any," he said then gestured to her books. "I'm almost out of books."

"How fast do you read?"

"Really fast in Russian. I'm getting better at the English."

"Well, figure out how to get some of your own stuff here," she said, turning back to the food.

"I'd need a way to talk with my friends."

She gave him a sharp look. He raised his eyebrows back at her. She returned to stuffing food away back in its proper places. "I'll work on that, too."

"Good."

Once finished with the unpacking, she grabbed enough food to count for dinner then retreated to her room again. She ate while making as little mess as she could. She checked on her social media for a while with music playing in the background, making sure to use her headphones. Her Instagram needed new photos, but she hadn't had a chance to take pics with Ivan in her apartment. She found some funny theories about a new boyfriend in the comments of her clothes shopping photo. She clenched her jaw and didn't respond with the real reason for the shopping trip.

She sighed, looking up from her laptop. The penciled in charms sat waiting on her wall for paint. She smiled, pulling out her phone. She took a carefully aimed photo of most of that wall of her bedroom then took a few close ups on the charms. She put all the photos up on Instagram, asking for advice on what color she should paint them. She returned to her regular surfing with her Instagram quota fulfilled along with the possible bonus of a little color theory help.

She circled back to her Instagram to find a comment from Catarina.

'Seems like you got red covered lol black would fit it best'

'Wouldnt that be too dark?'

She switched to Netflix to watch an episode or two of one of her shows. She checked her Instagram again.

'Lol' Catarina's new comment started, 'those charms are for protection and black helps with that'

Audrey frowned and switched to text her friend. **Are you making fun of me on instagram over color theory?**

Catarina responded a few minutes later. **No but u rly should learn it if ur gonna be charming ur own place**.

**Isn't that what i have u for? **Audrey smiled and set her phone aside to continue her mini marathon. After she finished the next episode, she checked her phone.

**Always but are u srsly trying to tell me u dont have a boyfriend with that much red in ur room?**

**I KNOW WHAT U R THINKING **Audrey sent, making a face at her phone as Catarina would definitely be laughing at her. **Stop thinking it I know what red means**.

**Lmao just checking**.

Catarina left her in peace to finish up another episode before Audrey had to get ready for bed. She stood at the door, listening for Ivan, before pulling it open and leaving her sanctuary to get ready for bed in the bathroom.

Ivan still had the light on, but he'd pulled out the couch and had taken off his shirt. He lifted his book in acknowledgement of her, and she rolled her eyes and stalked past him. She got ready as quick as she could.

"Nice pajamas," Ivan said, looking at her legs as she walked back towards her room.

She looked down at the green pants with little cartoon bunnies on them. "I've got better things to wear to bed, but it's not like you'll ever get to see them."

He laughed. She flushed and continued towards her room. He called after her. "It's good you don't live in a studio apartment then."

She slammed the door shut behind her. She slept that night as well as she had the night before. She did, however, get to the toast before Ivan did. He grumbled to himself in Russian as he searched for something to eat.

"Why don't you have eggs?" he asked, looking at her while still fairly groggy.

"I can't cook so I don't tempt myself," she answered, finishing off her toast and setting her plate in the sink.

"Can you get them for me then?" he asked, pulling out fruit. "I can cook."

She looked him over as he stood in front of the fridge, still half awake and not wearing a shirt. "I'll consider it."

"You consider a lot of things," he said, starting to eat. "Consider following through."

"I follow through on threats."

"So you just find it difficult to be nice."

"Says the half demon."

"Hey, I've been perfectly nice for basically getting kidnapped and trafficked to another country," he said, holding out his arms. "I offered to help you pay for things while I'm living here."

She sighed, brushing a hand through her hair. "I know, I'm sorry. I can give you the laptop after work to contact your friends."

"Really?" he said, straightening. "Great, thank you."

"Yup," she said, turning away from him. "I'll see you later."

She finished up her new locking routine then headed out to work. Maddie gave her a smile when she arrived, and Audrey gave her a nod in response. Work still took effort and her magic, but being around so many plants and positive magical energies let her relax some. She could focus and perform to her standards.

"Have you called my brother?" Maddie asked at the end of the day.

"I'm still thinking about it," Audrey answered. "I'd like to be able to help, but I'm still kinda dealing with that accident I told you about."

"There's no hurry," she said then fidgeted, licking her lips.

"Is there something else?" she asked, turning more fully towards her.

"Oh, um, I just wanted to know if you wanted to get lunch together some time? We work in different parts of the store so it should be fine if we go on break together."

"Yeah, yeah," Audrey said, nodding. "That'd be fine. Whenever or wherever you like."

"Oh, good," she said, her shoulders dropping. "Um, would next week be alright?"

"Yeah, just let me know. I've gotta head home now. I've got a chore to do," she said, sighing over the thought of handing her computer over to Ivan.

"Oh, yeah, I didn't mean to keep you, sorry."

"It's okay. I'll see you tomorrow," she said, giving her coworker a wave before leaving.

"Laptop," Ivan said as soon as she got the door open.

"Ugh, give me a minute," she said, unloading from work. "Hold on."

"I just didn't want you to forget."

She glared at him, and he grinned back at her. She took a deep breath in and turned away from him. She went into her bedroom and pulled out her laptop. She cleared her history and anything else she didn't want him to see or be able to pretend to stumble upon. She took in another breath as she brought it out from her room.

"Do not use it to do any more than you absolutely need to," she said, holding it out to him.

"I'll be careful," he said, taking it from her and sitting down on the couch with it. He opened it up and set to work. "I'll probably need it again soon as my friends won't be up at this hour."

"Fine," she said, pulling out her watering can from underneath the sink. She filled it then passed the couch to get to her potted plants. She watered them one by one, keeping an eye out for any problems with them. She returned the watering can to its spot then took a closer look at her plants.

She ran her fingers lightly over the first's leaves. She frowned as she continued through her plants. She looked back at Ivan. "You're not good for them."

"What?" he asked, looking up from the keyboard he'd been clumsily typing on.

"The plants, your magic, whatever it is, is messing with them. It's not good," she said, sitting down with her plants.

"I wasn't aware that plants were magical," he said.

"Well, it depends, but I've been caring for them with my magic," she said, running her hand over her forehead. "What have you done to them?"

"I haven't touched your plants," he retorted, shooting her a glare.

"No, it's not that you've touched them. It has to be your magic. They're not used to it. It's too dark," she said, frowning and tapping her fingers on the floor.

"Dark?" he asked, tone sharp.

She glared back at him. "Fine, not dark. It's not as bad as that damn book you burned, but it's still not healing energy."

"Whatever, just use your magic to fix up your plants and counteract whatever I'm doing. I swear I'm not intentionally harming your plants," he said, returning to the laptop.

"But you're still doing something," she murmured, turning back to her plants. She began a rather standard enchantment in Latin, encouraging the plant to be vibrant and strong, and ran her fingers over its leaves again. The tingling in her fingers felt like sunlight, and she could see her plant turn a healthier green. She breathed a sigh in relief that it worked.

"What did you do?"

She jumped at the sound of his voice. "I encouraged it."

He squinted at her. "Encouraging the plant is enough to make the whole room change?"

She looked around the room then back to him. "I mean, I specialize in healing, but I just helped the plant. I care for them then they can care for others."

He frowned, looking even more confused than before. "Never mind, I'll be done in a minute."

"Alright," she said, watching him for several seconds before turning back to her plants. She felt looser, relaxed, after spending time with them and caring for them. She had avoided them for the past few days with Ivan staying in the main room.

"Done," he said, closing the laptop.

She looked at him then towards her bedroom. She ran her hand through her hair then took in a deep breath. "I know I don't have a TV, but we could watch something on Netflix."

He looked her over then shrugged. "Sure."

"Okay," she said, getting up and taking back her laptop.

"I've got the table," he said, getting up from the couch and dragging the coffee table back into place before it.

"Oh, thanks," she said, sitting down and opening the laptop and pulling up Netflix. "What do you want to watch?"

"An action movie is pretty safe, isn't it?" he said, sitting down again but leaving plenty of room between them.

"I can do action," she said, looking through Netflix's line up for action films. "This one should be okay."

She started the movie, putting it full screen, turning her volume all the way up, and set her laptop down on the coffee table. She pulled her legs up onto the couch and settled back to watch. Clearly, ok to Netflix meant a boring plot but above average cinematography. Audrey didn't complain, instead leaning back on her worn couch and propping her head up with her arm. She glanced over at Ivan halfway through, checking that he was still watching. He had leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, and he looked like he was squinting at the screen.

"I can turn up the brightness," she told him.

"What?" he asked, looking away from the screen. "I can see fine."

"Alright, then what's the squinting for?"

"I'm paying attention."

"You really think it's that good?"

He shrugged. "Not really."

"So what then? You can't be a film junkie or else you'd be pickier and complaining about it."

"Film junkie?"

"You know, someone who's really into films, watches them all the time and stuff."

"No, I'm not a film junkie," he said, shaking his head but also smiling.

"Then why all the focus?"

He shrugged again, leaning back. "That's just how I watch."

"Alright," she said, turning back to the movie. She didn't catch him watching it so closely again after that.

When the movie finished, she picked her laptop up off the table and closed her browser. She returned her laptop to her room and found Ivan in the kitchen when she returned.

"Have you considered take out?" he asked as he got himself a microwavable meal. "It's just as convenient but the price, I think, is worth the taste."

"What? Those meals are fine," she said, joining him in the kitchen. She pulled down a meal for herself, and he left the microwave door open for her.

"Have you killed your taste buds with too many of those?"

"My taste buds are fine," she retorted as she placed her meal beside his and shut the door.

"They're really not."

She started the microwave. "So you won't complain about the movie, but you'll complain about the food?"

"The food's more important to me than the movie."

She laughed. "I see that."

"So is that a yes on the take out?"

"No, honestly, once it started it would never stop, and then I'd be broke," she said, sighing and watching the timer on the microwave. "Then you'd be stuck here while I'd get kicked out."

"I'm sure the next person will appreciate me more."

She laughed again. "Maybe the landlord will just transfer the lease to you and make you pay up. Then you'd really have to survive on take out."

He nodded. "I think I could deal with that."

The microwave dinged, and Audrey went to pull her meal out of it. "Hot," she hissed as she dropped the overheated package onto the counter.

"You couldn't have waited?"

"No," she said, rubbing her fingertips. "It dinged, it's done."

She grabbed a fork and after a few moments more, picked up her meal again and transferred it to her tiny table as quick as she could. "Hot," she hissed again.

"Should have waited," he said, tapping his finger on the package of his meal, testing the temperature. He pulled it out of the microwave and brought it over to the table to sit across from her.

She moved her food around with her fork then looked up at him. "Is this a thing now? Are we going to eat together?"

He tilted his head. "I guess if you're done with hiding in your bedroom."

She clenched her jaw, and he sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"I know I'm not happy about this, and I probably would be just as unhappy in your position even if I never would have done it," he said, looking more at his food than at her. "But I'm not stupid. Fighting with someone I'm going to have to live with for the next six months still sounds like a bad idea even if I hate some of the decisions they've made."

"That's…" she began, working to unclench her jaw. "If we're going to be mature about this then I'm sorry for summoning you. It was stupid. I probably deserved you burning those books as well even if it was stupid to do it in the apartment."

He shifted in his seat. "Yeah, not the greatest plan. You can hide in your room, if you want, instead of eating with me. I'm not going to be offended or anything."

She shook her head. "No, it's fine."

She started eating, doing her best to keep her pace even. He followed her lead soon after, and they ate together without speaking again. She retreated to her room again after that.

In the morning, he didn't make a bid for the breakfast the brownie had prepared for her. Instead, he made his own toast. "Have you thought about getting cereal?" he asked just before she left for work.

"If you want things, make a list," she told him, grabbing her keys then heading out the door.

Her work consisted mostly of mixing potions and creating pills, but she did have to care for her own bed of plants that she needed to use in order to create the medicines. In between filling orders, she returned to her plant bed, laying her hands on their stems and focusing intently on the magic and energy placed into them. She checked for the differences between them and her plants back home that had been exposed to Ivan. She even managed to get her hands on a couple of her coworker's plants. Now, she had data for her plants, but she needed data from Ivan.

She left, delivering a goodbye to Maddie and a promise to think of someplace they could have lunch nearby, and went straight to her apartment. "Ivan?" she called out as she entered her apartment.

"Yeah," he called back.

She unloaded from work and joined him in the main room. "I'm going to let you have the laptop, but I want to check something with you first. I promise to be quick."

"What?"

"I have an idea of what might be happening with my plants, but to check it I kind of need to read your magic which is going to involve touching," she said, using her hands to gesture towards him.

"What?" he said, setting the book he'd been reading aside. "What do you need to touch me for?"

"I don't know how you do it, but I read plants better than people, and I still need to touch them to do it."

"Why do you need to do it though?"

"I want to know what's going on with my plants, and I can't confirm it without reading you."

He looked over to her plants then back at her. She gave him her best puppy dog look that worked on her brothers, at least when they weren't fighting. Ivan sighed.

"Fine, but do it fast," he said, grimacing over it.

She sat down beside and said, "Now, try to be calm. The reason people are hard is because of all their feelings. They kinda move things around too much."

"I would have thought that would make it easier," he said, watching her hands. "Follow the emotions, find the magic."

"No, that's just like reactionary magic. Following emotions lead you away from the core of their magic."

"What exactly are you going to read?"

"I'm just trying to see what in you would cause the reaction I saw in my plants. I'm not going to hurt you or move things around or anything. Think of it like a check up."

"Healers," he muttered then shifted. "If you're going to do it, do it. Though, a half demon is probably going to be different than what you're used to than humans."

"Hopefully not too different," she said, taking a deep breath then holding up her hands.

He sighed, looking at her then her hands, and leaned in so that her hands landed on the sides of his jaw and neck. She focused on him and something like a too strong static shock went through her fingers. She jumped and pulled her hands away.

"Careful," he said, smiling a little.

She narrowed her eyes at him. She took a deep breath then set her hands against him again. She did as her professors had told her at university; insulate herself against others' magic while still leaving her the ability to read. It felt like her fingers were coated in something the consistency of syrup, but she could read him without it stinging. She pulled her hands away.

"And, what's the news, healer?" he asked.

"How much do you know about how this type of magic?" she asked, looking around him at her plants.

"About encouraging them?" he asked, and shrugged. "Nothing, never cared much to know about how human magic works."

"Then I guess I'll have to explain. With plants as they are, they heal when you consume them or put them on you. What we do to create medicine we do is we use charms and our magic to enhance their healing properties. That's what I do at work. Another way is to, I guess you could call it cultivating their own energies, imbibe them with healing magic that they can grow it on their own. As a demon, half, whatever, you've sort of been siphoning off their positive energy, using them like they're incense sticks, burning them up," she looked away, scratching her neck. "I guess I didn't realize how stressful this summoning had been for you."

He sighed, dropping his shoulders. "I don't know how to stop doing whatever it is to the plants."

"Well, there goes that idea," she said with a sigh. "Here's to hoping this gets better. I should probably buy more plants, too."

"Yeah," he said, running his hand through his hair and looking away.

"I'll just go get the laptop then," she said, hurriedly getting to her feet. She cleared her history again and brought it back out to him.

"Thanks," he said, taking it from her.

"I'll just leave you be," she said, nodding to herself and returning to her room. She pulled out her phone, needing something to fiddle with. She paused then pulled up her contacts and looked for the contact Maddie had put into her phone. Her brother at the magical pet shelter's name was Alfred.

* * *

><p>This chapter covered more of how Audrey'shuman magic works, at least with regard to plants and reading other living things magic/magical energy. Ivan's will come up soon. Audrey's life continues even after summoning a demon.

Please review!


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